


The Batfamily: The Story of America's Best Known Musical Family

by JaySlimThiqTodd



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Music, Batfamily-centric (DCU), Gen, Implied Relationships, Minor Harvey Dent/Bruce Wayne, altered origins for characters, not relationship centric, there is no vigilantism happening here, when I say au I mean it, written as a biographical piece
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:42:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29474154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaySlimThiqTodd/pseuds/JaySlimThiqTodd
Summary: Learn the origins of America's favorite musical family, the Wayne's and their friends, or the "Batfamily," as they are better known. Follow the story of the man behind Wayne Records and the Batfamily itself, Bruce Wayne, as we recount the family's history starting with the deaths of Thomas and Martha Wayne all the way up to the recent signing of new group The Batgirls.PLEASE NOTE: This is a music industry based au about the batfam written as if it is a biographical piece. They are not vigilantes, and many of their origins are altered or changed entirely. This will have relatively little to do with canon Please also note that while I am doing some research as needed into how the music industry in America works, it is confusing and I am not an expert so many things will be oversimplified, made up, and just plain incorrect. This is not meant to be an accurate depiction of the music industry and/or record labels.
Kudos: 4





	1. BEFORE YOU READ

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some notes and what to expect.

Welcome!

Before getting into the story, I have a few things I want to say both for your information and to hold myself to some of these ideas by sharing my plans.

First and foremost, I intend for this to be a full biographical story about the batfamily in this au of mine. I have no idea how long it will be yet in terms of chapters, but I estimate that most chapters themselves will probably be fairly short like the first chapter (the chapter after this intro!). I ask that you please be patient with my as I work on this. This is my first chaptered fic, my first attempt at writing an au, and my first time writing a fic in this biographical style. Basically, I will be learning as I go so please excuse me if this story is a mess at times.

Second, because this is essentially me telling my au through a biography, it will not be an exciting fic. I don't want to discourage anyone from reading this, but I do want to be up front and say this may very well be a boring fic. This fic is going to be told as if it is a largely information-based telling of the story of the batfam members and their careers in the music industry. This is a concept heavy fic that is going to read like a series of wikipedia pages. The main biographical portion of this fic is serving the purpose of introducing my au and establishing the story and characters. If you are here for more entertaining and engaging content, this may not be the fic for you (or at least not yet). If you like concept developing and a little bit of world-building, then I hope this interests you!

Third, again, I have no clue how long this will end up being, but once the main piece is done (the biography), I may continue to add chapters that are just head-canons and ideas about this au that I couldn't fit into the biography itself but want to share or think are important in adding to the au. For the time being, I will be focusing on the biography, but if I reach the point of adding additional parts, I will make it clear. For those of you who want more entertaining content, this would probably be of more interest to you, but I have to make it there first.

Fourth, I am in the process of creating what I will call "supporting materials" for this au. These are things like rough sketches of characters, playlists of music I think fits a character's sound in the au or that I think they would cover in concert, and even things like logos and signatures. I am not going to promise anything, but it is likely that I will share links to some of these things on here once they and the story itself are more developed. If I do choose to share links to these "supporting materials," I will make a separate chapter for them so they are easy to find and access.

Finally, I will be adding character tags as characters appear so that no one is mislead and expects a character to be here that isn't yet. I also will be adding mentioned ships in the additional tags. The biographical piece of this fic is NOT ship centric, but absolutely will mention and imply ships. Many, if not most, of these ships will be non-canon just like the rest of the au. I intend to add quite a few batfam characters (not all though, I thought about it and it became VERY complicated) so keep an eye on the tags for your favs. I also will be adding several non-batfam characters who will make appearances in various roles alongside batfamily members (ie. in the first chapter Tommy Elliot is mentioned as a band member alongside Bruce Wayne). While such characters may be mentioned several times throughout this story, they will not be the focus.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope you enjoy the story!


	2. "The Batman" Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce Wayne's introduction to the music industry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Welcome to our first chapter. It is fairly short, but I imagine most of these chapters will be around this length. I hope you enjoy!

The Wayne family and their close friends from the world of music are known by fans and the general public alike as the “Bat Family.”

You know their names, you’ve heard their songs, but do you know the story of America’s best known musical family?

Wayne Records was originally owned and run by longtime partners and renowned music producers Thomas and Martha Wayne. The label was just celebrating its 15th year anniversary and actively in the process of signing its 22nd artist when the Waynes met an untimely death. Their deaths shocked the music world, but their legacy did not die with them. They left the label to their only son Bruce, who was just 8 years old at the time of his parents’ death. Wayne Records’ General Manager Lucius Fox stepped up as CEO to run the label until Bruce was old enough to take the position for himself, and still remains one of the label’s managers today.

After the death of his parents, Bruce was raised by his family’s butler, Alfred Pennyworth, who encouraged Bruce to maintain his connection to music to honor Thomas and Martha. Having already started learning how to play several instruments from a young age, Bruce continued to try different instruments and styles throughout his youth. In his Junior year of high school, Bruce, alongside childhood friend Tommy Elliot and boyfriend-at-the-time Harvey Dent, formed the now-famous heavy metal group Beware the Batman.

The group released their first album, _Beware the Batman_ , in 1996, just one year after the band’s formation. The self titled album was recorded in a studio located under Wayne Manor that has become known as the legendary “Batcave” studio. During a 2016 interview with Vicki Vale following the band’s 2015 separation, Harvey called the year the trio spent recording their first album “one of the best years” of his life. “We had such a great time in that studio. After school we’d head to the manor and run down to the Cave and immediately start working. Alfred would bring down snacks and drinks for us while we worked.”

Thanks to Bruce’s preexisting connections to the industry, the band quickly gained traction, and Beware the Batman signed to Bruce’s own Wayne Records just 9 months after the release of their first album. Wayne’s masterful guitar playing and unique vocals paired with Dent’s catchy bass lines and Elliot’s expert drumming brought the trio to a quick rise in popularity. 

One year later, the trio released their second album _A Dark Knight_ , which outsold Wayne Records’ previous best selling artist tenfold. They followed the release of their second album with a small U.S. tour, hitting only 15 states and starting and ending the tour in their hometown of Gotham, New Jersey.

It was 3 years later, in 2001, that the release of the band’s third album launched them to being the most successful heavy metal band in the United States. This 3rd album, _He is Vengeance_ , was the first of 3 conceptual albums that contributed to the band’s lore of the mysterious figure known as “the Batman.” Shortly following the release of _He is Vengeance_ , Beware the Batman first went on another U.S. tour, this time reaching every continental state. After the success of the U.S. tour, the trio launched their first ever world tour. Their premier world tour, called the “Welcome the Knight Tour,” proved to be highly successful, selling out nearly every venue they played.

Once the Welcome the Knight Tour concluded, the band became less active for a year and a half as they worked on their next album, _He is the Night,_ which would be the second installment of their 3 part conceptual album series. Released in 2004, _He is the Night_ continued to expand upon the band’s lore. To accompany the album, Beware the Batman filmed music videos for each of the 12 tracks on the record and released them over the course of a year. The group had released music videos previously, but none such as these. Older music videos from the band were performance-style, often set on stages of small local venues in Gotham or even on the grounds of Wayne Manor. The videos released with _He is the Night_ were a series of narrative videos, following the tale of “Batman” and his enemies.

As the band’s first decade of existence came to an end, fans were eager to see what came next. In just ten years, Beware the Batman developed a fanbase of millions across the world and became the best selling heavy metal group in the world, and they didn’t stop there.


End file.
